By Lewis Perdue
WHAT
The recent government recall of lead-contaminated cinnamon by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has raised the uncomfortable fact that ground spices are frequently contaminated by all sorts of contaminants — including microplastics — during harvest, processing, and packaging.
Equally concerning is the fact that spices are legally allowed to contain threshold levels of objectionable substances such as rat feces and insect fragments which the FDA insists are not health issues.
As regards that last statement, it’s important to note that the FDA has been notoriously lax in its regulation of many hazardous substances, as evidenced by its tardy record in regulating lead in baby food.
The FDA also issues relatively current import alerts for spices, flavors and salts.
WHY
You’ll want to minimize hazardous contaminants (lead etc.), microplastics as well as government-approved levels of insect and rodent contamination and pesticides. Microplastics are currently not regulated.
In addition to obvious contamination, spices, have a long, plastic-filled trail from harvest to your table having contacted multiple plastics from harvest, shipping, storage, processing and retail containers. This trail of contamination includes:
- Contact with micro- and nanoplastics in the environment and leaching from contaminated soil and water during planting, irrigation, and growth.
- Exposure to plastics during harvest from conveyor belts, chutes, pipes, baffles and other equipment.
- Exposure to plastic in the washing process through the use of bins, tanks, implements and pipes.
- Exposure to plastics during the drying and packing stages including the use of recycled or coated cardboard.
HOW #1 Glass
Avoid plastic packaging. Glass bottles are best.
HOW #2: Grind/Crush/Grate
Buy spices whole: cinnamon, nutmeg and peppercorns are good ways to start. Buying rock or coarse salt also helps avoid microplastics.
When my colleagues and I conducted a small proof-of-concept study to see if BPA (Bisphenol A) could cause an increase in inflammation, we needed to have food that was as uncontaminated as possible to compare with the same foods that were sourced and prepared by people in everyday life.
To do that, we went to extraordinary extremes to eliminate BPA, including efforts meant to reduce spice contamination. That included selecting pepper mills to avoid plastic contamination and a ridiculously detailed effort to reduce surface contamination on peppercorns and other solid spices.
If you want a faster path from solid spice to powder, this article (not from our site) — The 8 Best Spice Grinders of 2024 — may be of help. (NOTE: We receive no compensation from any third party link in this article).
HOW #3: GROW
You can grow your own basil at home.
You can buy basil plants at most grocery stores and successfully grow them at home without a great deal of effort. Some good suggestions can be found at his link: Buying a basil plant, keeping it alive.
More Cinnamon …
You may find our previous article on cinnamon of interest: Spice up your day with the right kind of cinnamon —
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